xxvii, 602 pages : 25 cm

"Timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, here is an unprecedented account of the extraordinary World War II air, land, and sea campaign that brought the U.S. Navy to the apex of its strength and marked the rise of the United States as a global superpower, "--Amazon.com

The extraordinary story of the World War II air, land, and sea campaign that brought the U.S. Navy to the apex of its strength and marked the rise of the United States as a global superpower. One of America's preeminent military historians, James D. Hornfischer has written his most expansive and ambitious book to date. Drawing on new primary sources and personal accounts by Americans and Japanese alike, here is a thrilling narrative of the climactic end stage of the Pacific War, focusing on the U.S. invasion of the Mariana Islands in June 1944 and the momentous events that it triggered. With its thunderous assault into Japan's inner defensive perimeter, America crossed the threshold of total war. From the seaborne invasion of Saipan to the stunning aerial battles of the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, to the largest banzai attack of the war and the strategic bombing effort that led to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Marianas became the fulcrum of the drive to compel Tokyo to surrender--with consequences that forever changed modern war. These unprecedented operations saw the first large-scale use of Navy Underwater Demolition Teams; a revolution in the fleet's ability to sustain cross-hemispheric expeditionary warfare; the struggle of American troops facing not only a suicidal enemy garrison but desperate Japanese civilians; and the rise of the U.S. Navy as the greatest of grand fleets. From the Marianas, B-29 Superfortresses would finally unleash nuclear fire on an enemy resolved to fight to the end. Hornfischer casts this clash of nations and cultures with cinematic scope and penetrating insight, focusing closely on the people who rose to the challenge under fire: Raymond Spruance, the brilliant, coolly calculating commander of the Fifth Fleet; Kelly Turner, whose amphibious forces delivered Marine General Holland "Howlin' Mad" Smith's troops to the beaches of Saipan and Tinian; Draper Kauffman, founder of the Navy unit that predated today's SEALs; Paul Tibbets, who created history's first atomic striking force and flew the Enola Gay to Hiroshima; and Japanese warriors and civilians who saw the specter of defeat as the ultimate test of the spirit. From the seas of the Central Pacific to the shores of Japan itself, The Fleet at Flood Tide is a stirring and deeply humane account of World War II's world-changing finale. --

Includes bibliographical references (pages 541-568) and index

Part One: Sea. Engine of siege ; On the western warpath ; In Turner's train ; A charge for Ozawa ; The outer colony ; A rumor of fleets ; OBB and UDT ; Heavy weather -- Part Two: Land. Heavier, higher, faster ; D Day ; Trail, attack, report ; Tank attack ; The view from the mountain ; First contact ; War of the wind machines ; Fast carriers down ; To build a better airfield ; Beyond darkness ; Smith versus Smith ; Satan's breath ; The dying game ; Sniper ship on a cave shoot ; Beyond all boundaries ; Atop suicide cliffs ; Regime change ; Steel like snowflakes ; The will to lose hard -- Part Three: Air. Secrets of New Mexico ; Going critical ; Everybody's business ; Divine winds ; Methods of death on the wing ; Opportunity and madness ; Prompt and utter destruction ; Clear-cut results -- Part Four: Earth. Eight bells for an empire ; The war wearies

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews